Tuesday, 9 August 2016

Man City move no excuse for my Brazil form - Gabriel Jesus

Several Selecao stars have been reflecting following
the disappointment of drawing back-to-back games against South Africa
and Iraq at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio

Brazil followed up their opening night stalemate with South Africa
with yet more disappointment as they stumbled to a second successive
goalless draw against Iraq at the Rio Olympics on Sunday.
Under pressure and jeered by the crowd in Brasilia, frustrated
captain Neymar refused to talk to the media after the match, heading
straight through the mixed zones in his earphones to take his seat alone
on the team bus.
A number of the squad did contribute to the post-mortem, however,
knowing victory in their final group game against Denmark will secure
safe passage to the next round of the men's football competition.

RENATO AUGUSTO

"It was not the first time, nor will it be the last time, a Brazil
team was booed. Whoever you are, in football you have to be prepared for
that. I am one of the most experienced players in the squad. I have to
remain calm and be confident for the younger players. If I had scored
the decisive goal, everyone would applaud me. it is expected that the
same fans who booed today would then support us. We just want to qualify
and go on to the quarter-finals.
"We have to win, think only of victory and get the fans back on side.
Let's go for a victory, at a time like this it will be nice to have the
fans on our side. Brazil created lots of chances, but we missed too
many. What counts in football is a result, we have lots of things to
improve on.
"Neymar is human, there are times when the guy just wants to be
alone. There are times to reflect. Now is the time to close ourselves
off as a group as the only ones who can solve this are the players and
the coaching staff.”

GABRIEL JESUS

"It's not just me feeling like this, not only the attackers, but the
whole team who are missing chances at goal. The team played well, like a
Brazil team, going forward, but we just missed chances. Personally I'm
sad not to have found the goal we needed, but we must understand that it
will not always be easy.
"No, the move to Manchester City has nothing to do with it. When I
was in Palmeiras I was asked that question, too. I'm not scoring goals
because I am not scoring goals. Some days we don’t play to our best.
"We are creating chances, I even had two chances. There were three
others who had some, we are making them, just missing them. That is
important, of course, but we are playing well.”

WEVERTON

"The pressure has been there ever since I joined the group to compete
in the Olympics. But yes, the need to win enhances everything. We
talked in changing rooms and everyone is frustrated, as unfortunately
the victory did not arrive today. We are aware of the pressure and now
we are going in search of victory and qualification. Now is a time to
rest and then get up and go again, off to Salvador with everyone’s
support.
"We always try to win, but to win the game we have to score. It is
not the time to get desperate. We are still in a position to depend only
on ourselves, we need to get our heads in the right place and, on
Wednesday, return.”

ROGERIO MICALE

“We need to apologize to the fans, to the people of Brasilia. We
didn't play our best football. We feel like we left our fans frustrated.
“As the time passes and we can’t score, the anxiety increases, and in this situation it’s easier to make mistakes. It’s natural.

“We prepared for this at the Granja Comary [training complex ahead of
the games]. We stretched the play wide and tried to vary our approach
by going inside, to the red zone. We worked on this… but finding your
way through two rigid lines of four can be very difficult. I am not
going to criticize the pitch here, that is no excuse."